Chương 184: Chapter 63: “Lewis Baget Laboratory”

Perhaps I was dead tired. It seems I fell asleep quite deeply. By the time I was woken up, the travel was already over.

"Yu. Wake up. We're here."

"Nn... Lilna..." Huh. We arrived already?

"You were sleeping well."

"... Yeah... Eh...?" Arrived, you say...? My consciousness gradually becomes clear. Something feels strangely soft under my head. Also, isn't her face strangely close? Lilna was directing a gentle smile at me, as if peering into my face from above. With that, I finally realized what kind of situation I was in.

"Ah, ah! Sorry!" I jump up immediately and apologize vigorously. Lilna didn't seem to mind at all. Rather, she even seems to be enjoying it.

"Haha. You don't have to panic so much." Feeling a bit unsettled still, I look around roughly through the car window. It was a sandy beach with pure white sand spreading out. Beyond the sand, unbelievably, a clear blue sea spreads out. I opened my eyes wide. Is this area not so polluted anymore? Next, turning my eyes to the land, I saw colorful plants and lush, powerful trees growing in clusters. Neither of them were mere consolations like those grown in the park of Diesnatura.

It was a place so beautiful that it didn't seem to belong to this world. Even compared to nature on Earth, it was not inferior. Was this planet originally this beautiful? Anyway, it seems the car had already arrived near the destination and stopped long ago.

"My bad. I slept too much... I intended to switch halfway. Really sorry."

"Fufu. It's fine. I was able to relax quite a bit too." I still didn't quite understand why Lilna smiled somewhat happily at this time. But—'I feel like I've become quite close with Lilna too.'

'That's right.'

"Me" is smiling somewhat suggestively. When she is like this, it's standard that she is hiding something inside. As her master, I could forcibly read her mind, but I swore in my heart not to do such a thing. Because I want our positions to remain equal forever. So I asked"Me".

'What's wrong?'

'No. It's nothing. But I'll say this much.'

'Yeah.'

'Okay? You should always do as you wish.'

'... You're right.' After all, "Myself" might know myself best. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. —To the point of being too honest. The Lewis Baget Laboratory was about a five-minute brisk walk from the sandy beach where we parked the car. Tor Guief Magic Laboratory, lined with tools for human experimentation and torture devices. Mick Lab, full of strange inventions.

Honestly, I don't have many good memories of laboratories, so I was bracing myself for what kind of place it would be, but... Especially since I heard Lewis was quite an oddball. Its appearance was nothing special. It was an ordinary white angular building with no particularly prominent features. Just looking at the exterior, there are plenty of things like this on Earth. The problem is the inside. Lilna pointed as if she noticed something.

"Hm? Something seems to be written on that wall over there." Finding something on the wall next to the main entrance, she quickens her pace and walks towards it.

"Characters I've never seen before."

"Let me see." Catching up immediately, I peeked from behind her as she stared at the wall with a frown. There is nothing I can't read with the FabL's automatic translation ability. This was my time to shine. As soon as the written characters came into my view—"Eh!? This is...!" I was so shocked that my eyes were glued to it. It's no wonder Lilna couldn't read it. Because what was written there was— No mistake. It's Japanese! Why!? Why is it in a place like this!? I didn't understand anything at all.

Still, there is one thing I understand. It absolutely cannot be a coincidence. The person who wrote this knew in advance that I would come here and deliberately left a message that only I could understand. But who on earth wrote such a thing? At least, it would be someone who knows my place of origin... On the wall, contents like this were written in order from the top. Since the building was broken, I fixed it for you. Yu-kun, fight on! I'm looking forward to the day we can meet someday! From your dear A. OZ"A.

OZ...?"

"Is it an acquaintance of yours?" Lilna asks. It seems I had read it out loud unconsciously.

"No. I don't know..." Written in pink letters. From the rounded, cute font and wording, I guess it might have been written by a woman. At least it doesn't seem to be Will or Lenks. Generally, it's not the kind of content they would write.

"It seems they are cheering for me." Judging from the friendly text, if there is no hidden agenda, it would be a person who has goodwill towards me. But to call me with '-kun' intentionally... I can only think of Asty. But there's no way that's true. We just parted ways in Diesnatura.

"It said something about fixing the building. Indeed, the exterior doesn't make you feel the passage of time at all, but..." Now that she mentions it. The laboratory retained its appearance surprisingly well. Even though it's from the same two thousand years ago, the capital of the old civilization, Estrayl, is buried in nuclear snow without a trace. According to Plato, it certainly existed until twenty years ago when he found Lilna. But even so, it couldn't have been in such a pristine condition.

"Let's go inside for now."

"Yeah." When I made up my mind and took a step inside, I was even more surprised. First, automatically, the entrance lighting turned on brightly. There wasn't even a single scratch on the surrounding white walls or the ceiling. Looking at my feet, the polished floor reflects the figure of my shoes like a mirror. It's just like a new building. As expected, this can never happen in a natural state.

"Being with you, really outrageous things happen all the time." Lilna is pressing her forehead with her right hand as if she has a headache. She seemed quite exasperated.

"Don't blame everything on me. Even I don't know what's what." No, if the person named A. OZ cooperated for my sake, maybe it is my fault after all? No, no. That can't be.

"Anyway, isn't this convenient? It seems we don't have to worry about the spaceship breaking down."

"It seems we have no choice but to think so... Alright. Let's split up and search for various things." Maybe there is a clue somewhere to capture the Matter Annihilation Weapon. Even the old humans of this world must have fought Baragion, even if they lost. Looking at the guide, the laboratory had a spacious structure with three floors. First, we start searching from the first floor. Even inside, there was nothing particularly unusual. The worry seems to have been needless anxiety.

Because there were many things, the search took some time, but we were able to discover various things. Materials on Natura manufacturing, materials related to the D Project. Although I already knew the rough outline, some detailed facts I didn't know also emerged. But the crucial clue hasn't been found yet. Maybe it doesn't exist, but I want to explore the possibilities rather than challenging it without a plan. Next is the second floor, huh. Where the main First and Second Laboratories are located.

At that moment, when I headed for the stairs— No way. I doubted my own eyes at what reflected in them. Isn't it some kind of mistake? Even though I thought so rationally. Before I knew it, my feet were rushing, running. When I climbed up the stairs completely, this time I recognized the back figure without a mistake. Smooth black hair extending to the shoulders. A supple and healthy physique that one can tell is trained at a glance. That nostalgic atmosphere. That nostalgic smell.

I couldn't stop tears from welling up in my eyes. There is no way I could forget. There is no way I could forget it. Why. Why are you in a place like this? Even though you absolutely shouldn't be here. Even though you should have died already. To the back figure walking further ahead without saying anything, I called out in a tearful voice.

"Mom...!"